Your Day Bag

No one wants to spend time at Burning Man re-organizing and searching through their stuff. That’s why I recommend getting two Camelbaks, one for day and one for night. Then the switch from day to night is as simple as switching backpacks.

Here are the day-specific items you’ll pack:

Sun Goggles x2 — Protect your eyes from sun and dust. As with all essential items, get at least 2, because you’re bound to lose things at Burning Man.

Clip-Cup — Wherever you go at Burning Man, you want to have a cup on hand for collecting food and drink. I loved having a Clip Cup on the Playa last year. It sat snugly in my pocket so it was always within reach, and didn’t bounce around as I moved.

Consider getting a 6-Person Tentif you can, because they’re large enough that you can stand up straight inside of them. That extra convenience matters a lot when you’re going in and out of your tent several times a day. Above all, make sure that your chosen tent can keep the dust out.

All of your bedtime stuff will go inside your Tent:

Mummy Sleeping Bag—You can jump right into bed with these sleep cocoons. There’s no mess with blankets to worry about, they’re comfortable, and they’re cheap.

Your Kitchen and Food

Some camps have extensive communal kitchens, while others require you to provide your own food and drink. I’m going to assume here that your camp provides a daily meal or two, but that you need to provide much of your pantry, such as:

Tons of Water— 1.5 Gallons of H2O per day is a good rule of thumb for all the water one person needs at Burning Man. In my experience this is a bit more water than you’ll actually end up using, so if you buy 10 1-Gallon jugs you should be set.

Eating only Dried Snacks gets old quickly, so fill up a Coolerwith Ice and chill some food and drinks such as:

Coconut Water— Outside of regular water, this is the main thing people are drinking on the Playa. There’s something about cold coconut water that’s just perfect for Burning Man. So get yourself a few 12-packs.

If you really want to take it to the next level, you might consider bringing Soylent, the creepy meal replacement. In fact, I imagine you could pack super light by living entirely off of Soylent for your entire Burning Man stay. Not that you would want to, but I’d be curious if anyone has tried this.

Make sure that you have real hot meals either provided by your camp, or that you cook for yourself. Just snacking it for a week is not healthy or enjoyable. If you’re doing your own cooking, get the necessary cooking materials like a Stoveand Cooking Utensils.

Your Chill Space

Here’s what you should have on hand for your camp’s chill communal spaces:

Writing Utensils like a Composition Notebook, Pens, and Pencilswill help you record your otherworldly experiences from the comfort of your chill space. Also grab some Index Cardsfor trading contact info with the cool folks you meet at Black Rock City.

Leaving No Trace

Leaving No Trace on the Black Rock Desert means disposing of any MOOP and gray water you create. Your camp may have a waste plan already in place, but the bare minimums are:

For MOOP, bring Garbage Bags. Be a good Burner and also use them to cleanup random MOOP that you run into on the Playa.

Gray Water can be dealt with using an Evaporation Pond, built from a dark plastic Tarp and 2X4s. People hate on this approach, because it’s often messy/gross, but better methods like the Evapotron are harder to setup.

Your Bike

If you’re getting this bike just for Burning Man, I recommend renting from Playa Bike Repair. They even offer a delivery service, where you can pick your bike up and drop it off at their camp . That means less packing, which is always a win.

However you end up getting your bike, make sure to get these accoutrements for it:

Wheel Lights — Glow up your bike for safety and style at night. There are tons of options for Wheel Lights, but I think the MonkeyLight Wheel Lights strike a good balance between awesomeness and affordability.

Your Gift

Last but not least you should have a Gift for your fellow Burners. I’ve always found that these Glowy Ringsgo over well at Burning Man, or anywhere else for that matter.

Packing It All Up

Rubbermaid’s Storage Containersare worth spending the extra dollar on, because they’re incredibly durable and easy to stack and pack. I’ve stored all of my stuff in these things in my 3 years on the Playa.

Due to unseasonably wet weather, the grass on the hills is unusually verdant, and that’s resulted in more bugs showing up in the desert than usual. There are green beetles called stink bugs (so-called because they emit a coriander-like odor when disturbed), mosquitos, and gnat-like seed bugs called Nysius

Current word on the street indicates that the problem has mostly died down. However, I wonder whether the giant light explosion known as Burning Man could bring forth another bug exodus from neighboring areas, because all of these bugs are drawn to light.

The Challenge

These are not easy bugs to handle. The Stink Bugs are resistant to most insecticides. People are reporting rashes from the Seed Bugs because of the noxious mustard oils they’ve been eating.

Now, if this were a normal festival, the bugs wouldn’t be too hard to deal with. We could spray-kill and glue-trap the fuckers and call it a day. But this is Burning Man, which means that we have to Leave No Trace and respect the natural environment of the Black Rock Desert. Quite a challenge, but Burners are up to the task.

Keeping Bugs Away With Scents

They don’t like Cedar Oil either, but it isn’t powerful enough to work outdoors, and a lot of people don’t like the scent. And don’t get me started on Garlic Spray. That’s just making yourself smell worse than the stink bugs. These bugs love fruity smells, so leave the strawberry perfume at home.

Dressing for the Occassion

Also, the bugs prefer dark clothing to light, presumably because dark crevices are where they hunt for water.

Dealing with Rashes

Early Arrivals on the Playa have been reporting rashes, thought to be caused by the mustard seed the seed bugs are eating. Witch Hazel and Aloe Vera are natural remedies for burns and welts of this type.

Just make sure that whatever you get, it doesn’t have a fruity smell to it.

Going Hardcore

Whether or not you think Bugpocalyspe is a possibility this year, you may want to go hardcore and bring a vacuum-powered Bug Zooka. It’s 10X more powerful than a regular vacuum but costs only $23. And if the bugs aren’t a problem this year, you still have it for cleaning up MOOP.

You need to shade your camp from the powerful sun of the Black Rock desert. Otherwise you’ll start each day with a wake-and bake at sunrise. Nobody wants that, especially not after a night of partying.

Securing Your Carport

Securing your shade structure against the desert winds (which can go as high as 75mph) is essential. If you don’t do this, your shade structure will shake noisily in the wind, or even fly off entirely like Dorothy’s house in the Wizard of Oz.

Rebar is the established way of securing shade structures (0r anything else) to the Playa. Tent-stakes aren’t strong enough, so don’t rely on them.

You can buy Rebar from any home improvement store on your way to Burning Man. It’s one of the few items you can’t get last minute from Amazon. Get 18″ rebar that’s bent at the top so people don’t injure themselves by falling on it.

To secure your Carport, Saran Wrap its legs around adjacent Rebar stakes. Then, wrap Gorilla Tapearound the Saran Wrap. When it comes time to teardown your camp, you can simply cut the wrap/tape off.Attaching the Carport legs to Rebar is not enough, though. You should “guy-line” each corner of your Carport for extra stability. Use Ratcheting Nylon Strapsfor extra stability, and easier setup/teardown compared to rope.

Rain-Proof Floors

Aside from the Sun and the Wind and the Dust, you also have to be concerned with the possibility of Rain. That’s why you should get Tarpsto create floors and protect your camp from mud that might form during a storm.

Tools for the Job

None of this is possible without the right tools for the job. A Malletand a Crowbarwill be your main tools for installing and removing Rebar. Also get some Open Finger Work Glovesto protect your hands while still keeping your fingers free.